Study shows economic impact of Battleship on Cape Fear area

WILMINGTON, NC (NEWS RELEASE) — The Battleship NORTH CAROLINA releases the economic impact assessment as completed by the University of North Carolina – Chapel Hill Center for Competitive Economies.

Examination of the Battleship’s annual economic impact was for each year in the period from 2000-2010 and cumulatively for the entire period. Based on the analysis the findings are as follows:

Employment

During 2010 the USS NORTH CAROLINA contributed 303 jobs to the New Hanover county economy, including 46 employees at the ship itself and another 257 jobs created in the region by ship visitation
For the 2000-2010 period, the USS NORTH CAROLINA accounted for 3,173 job/years of employment

Income

During 2010 the USS NORTH CAROLINA contributed $7.9 Million in income received by citizens of the New Hanover county economy
For the 2000-2010 period, the USS NORTH CAROLINA accounted for $83.5 Million in local income

Economic Growth

USS NORTH CAROLINA grew the New Hanover county economy by $23.4 Million during 2010 and by a total of $245 Million for the 2000-2010 period

Real Estate Value Contribution

The prominent – and decidedly favorably perceived – presence of the NORTH CAROLINA on the Wilmington waterfront was found to increase real estate values on nearby properties
Research suggests that the ship contributes a “heritage view value” premium of approximately 3 to 5%, with contributed value varying by each properties’ utilization.
For the 273 parcels that have some view of the NORTH CAROLINA, the ship is estimated to add a total of $5.7 Million to their aggregate tax value

Conclusion

Research found that the USS NORTH CAROLINA makes a significant and remarkably consistent contribution to the economy of its community. The significance of the ship’s contribution to the regional economy was magnified by the “counter-cyclical” nature of its impact. The NORTH CAROLINA actually increased its economic contribution during period of regional and national economic recession, thus providing important stability to the region.

It was also found that those economic contributions include – but also extend beyond – the NORTH CAROLINA’S prominent role in regional tourism. The NORTH CAROLINA was also found to play a prominent role in defining the Wilmington “brand” to external audiences and to serve as an enduring and iconic symbol of community identity for the citizenry of a rapidly changing city. The ongoing evolution of the USS NORTH CAROLINA has the potential to increase this role and the economic value it brings to its community.

The Battleship NORTH CAROLINA is self-supporting, not tax supported and relies primarily upon admissions to tour the Ship, sales in the Ship’s Store, donations and investments. No funds for its administration and operation come from appropriations from governmental entities at the local, state or federal levels. Located at the junction of Highways 17/74/76/421 on the Cape Fear River. Visit www.battleshipnc.com or follow us on Facebook.com/ncbb55 and Twitter.com/battleshipnc for more information. Relive with the crew on the Battleship Blog http://seastories.battleshipnc.com/. The Battleship NORTH CAROLINA is an historic site within the North Carolina Department of Cultural Resources (www.NCCulture.com).

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Aw, c’mon. This is garbage, the same garbage that keeps taxpayers pumpin money into stadiums and semi-pro (aka “college) sports teams. Someone takes some figures, multiplies them wildly, and says that the entire region is rich ’cause you have a NASCAR race, or a NBA franchise, or whatever. Oh, and they always do that about the time they hit you up for more money.

Here’s the deal — even NASCAR (hardly a stranger to NC, although you wouldn’t know it by the lack of NASCAR stuff these days) says that unless the visitor travels 300 miles or more, you’re just recirculating local money. And while there are obviously many that come from a half day’s drive or more, the truth is that most are local to the area. And of those coming from far away, how many make this a destination and stay a while to buy more than a burger and a tank of gas?

Betting both NC and this battleship go for more money with numbers like this… what you wanna bet?

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Vog46

2015 years 8 months ago

I will disagree just a little on this one.
Yes the multipliers are egregiously too high.
That said the BB is totally self sufficient meaning no government funds are involved.
So if they sell rooms meals etc the state reaps the taxes on those purchases with no overhead to take away from the bottom line.

The difference is that there are no costs involved to run the BB55 – so any increase in sales represents increased taxes.
This one gives us more bang for our bucks so to speak……

Vog

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Walt-in-Durham

2015 years 8 months ago

$23 million boost to a $14 billion economy. Not even in the rounding error.

Walt-in-Durham

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Yeah so what

2015 years 8 months ago

It’s a boat! I’m impressed by the 23 million dollar number for a fairly small tourist stop. Extremely similar to the DPAC in durham (a 24 million dollar contribution) with the exception that well we are talking about an old boat and that’s about it here. Pretty impressive.